Team Shirzanan (“female heroes” in Persian) is comprised of Muslim female athletes with a clear goal of promoting female sports in their faith. Last week, they biked across Iowa, traveling 470-miles, at 70 miles a day.
Team members include the first female from Saudi Arabia to climb Mount Everest, a Pakistani Olympic swimmer, a Pakistani- American Olympic weightlifter, and an Iranian surfer and snowboarder.
Raha Moharrak, who climbed Mount Everest, said she never set out to be a role model. “But if living by example can show young girls all over the world, in general, and Muslim women in specific, that you are capable of doing what you set out to do — whether it’s climbing a mountain or riding a bicycle at my age — then we have done a great thing.”
